Susan Breen Silvy

Glass and Metal Artist


Education and Professional Development
B.S. Public Relations and Graphics, Central Missouri University
Metal Clay Masters Registry
Genevieve Flynn, Silversmithing and Jewelry Design
Pate De Verre, Grains of Glass, Alicia Lomne, Corning NY
Chasing and Repousse, Il Maestro Fabrizio Aquafresca
Raising Vessels - David Huang
Annodizing Titanium and Niobium, Bill Seeley
Torchfiring Enamel, Anne Havel
Painterly Techniques in Enamel, Julie Brooks
Knitted Noble Metal Chain, Michael David Sturlin
Creative Sawing and Cold Connections, Thomas Mann
HInges in PMC, Celie Fago
Hydraulic Press Forming, Cynthia Eid
Design and Firing When Combining Metals, Gordon Uyehara
Bronze Bangles, Barbara Becker Simon
Certified Zentangle Teacher
PMC Certified Artist - Rio Rewards
Advanced Lampworking Techniques, Tom and Sage Holland

Awards and Achievements:
Saul Bell Design Award 2012
Master's Registry, International juried registry that recognizes artists who have achieved a high level of proficiency in metal clay.
Mentor, PMC Guild Conference 2010
Silver Accessories Contest 2009, Tokyo, Japan
Lapidary Journal Bead Arts Award 2003, First place
President, International Society of Glass Beadmakers, 2002-2005
Bead Dreams 2002, First place
Gleaming Treasures 2002, First place
Contemporary Torchworking 2002, honorable mention
Gleaming Treasures 2001, First place and Judges Choice
Bead Dreams 2001, finalist

Professional Experience:
Kansas City Art Institute - Professional Studies and Continuing Education
The Office Studio - Teaching studio of Susan Breen Silvy
Lampwork and metal clay traveling instructor
International Society of Glass Beadmakers, Board of Directors 2000-2005, President 2002-2005
Wysong, Quimby & Jones Advertising - Account Executive
Janz/jMack Advertising - Account Executive


Curatorial Experience:
New Directions:  Powdered Metallurgy in a Sheet Metal World, 2011.  Crafthaus exhibition and print catalog
Obsession:  A Ten Year Affair With the Bead, traveling exhibition, catalog and auction

Books and Magazines:
Art Jewelry Magazine, May 2013
Ornament Magazine, 2012 Volume 36 No.1
Saul Bell Design 2012 Book of Finalists
Art Jewelry Magazine, April 2011
Metal Clay In Color, Kalmbach Books, 2012
Art Jewelry Magazine, July 2011 profiled artist, "A Conversation with Susan Breen Silvy"
Art Jewelry Today 3, Schiffer Publishing 2011
PMC Annual 2011
The Art and Design of Metal Clay Jewelry 2011
New Directions:  Powder Metallurgy in a Sheet Metal World, 2011
PMC Annual 2010
The Art of Metal Clay, revised 2010, Author Sherri Haab
2009 Silver Accessories Exhibition Tokyo, Japan, catalog
PMC Annual 2009
The Art and Design of Metal Clay Jewelry 2009
Art Clay Society Quarterly, Winter 2009
PMC Annual 2008
The Complete Book of Glass Beadmaking, Lark Books 2005
500 Glass Beads, Lark Books 2004
Currency, catalog of juried exhibition curated by Bullseye Glass
Lapidary Journal , October 2003
Beads, published by Primedia, Fall 2003
Formed of Fire, Selections in Contemporary Lampwork Glass by Bandu Scott Dunham, 2003
Bead Dreams, special issue published by Kalmbach media, 2003
Obsession:  A Ten Year Affair with the Bead, print catalog of traveling juried exhibition, 2002
More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Glass Beadmaking, by James Kervin
Contemporary Torchworking, A Practical Guide to Shaping Glass in the Flame, third edition, Bandu Scott Dunham
Lapidary Journal, November 2001
Lapidary Journal, October 2001
Kansas City Star Newspaper, September 23, 2001
Lapidary Journal, June 2001
Kansas City Star Newspaper, June 11,2000

Radio:
Glass Talk Radio with Dale Schmeltzer, March 12, 2002

Permanent Collections:
The State of Missouri Governors Mansion
CERF @ Heart Miniature Collection, SOFA Chicago
The Washington D.C. Bead Museum
Bead Museum, Glendale, AZ


Exhibitions:
2013 
Public Hanging, Kansas City Artists Coalition
Eclectics Gallery, Kansas City, MO
2011
Kansas City Rivermarket Regional Exhibition, Kansas City, MO
Kansas City Art Institute, Instructors Exhibition
New Directions:  Powder Metallurgy in a Sheet Metal World, Crafthaus online exhibition
2010
Crafthaus, artist of the week.
International Metal Clay Registry online exhibition
2009
Silver Accessories Exhibit, Tokyo, Japan
2006
Passing the Torch: j Contemporary Art Glass Lampwork Invitational
2005
River of Glass, Kentucky Museum of Art and Craft
Bead of a Different Color, Glassworks Gallery, Kentucky
The Eternal Bead, The Bead Museum, Washington, D.C.
2004
Currency, Bullseye Glass Pearl Gallery, Portland, Oregon
Double Rainbow, Gallery 33, Portland, Oregon
2003
CERF @ Heart Miniature Collection, SOFA, Chicago
Lapidary Journal Bead Arts Award
Christmas Tree, Missouri Governors Mansion
Landscape in Glass, Lowell, MA
Neck-Glass Invitational, Blue Streak Gallery Delaware
2002
Christmas Tree, Missouri Governors Mansion
The Beautiful Bead, Symmetry Gallery, NY
Obsession:  A Ten Year Affair with the Bead, traveling exhibition, Craft Alliance Gallery, St. Louis, MO, The Studio at the Corning Museum of Glass, Bead Museum, Glendale, Arizona.
The Melting Pot, Beadazzled, Washington, D.C.
The Right Cord, Arts Afire Gallery, Washington, D.C.
Gleaming Treasures, Portland Oregon
Bead Breams, Bead & Button Show, Milwaukee
Contemporary Torchworking, Pittsburgh Center for the Arts
2001
Kittrell/Riffkind, Ornament Extravaganza, Dallas, TX
Gleaming Treasures, Portland, OR
Bead Dreams, Bead & Button Show, Milwaukee
Taking Beads Beyond, Smith Klein Gallery, Boulder, CO
Fantasies in Glass, Loveland Art Museum, Loveland, CO
Terra Firma, 4th Street Gallery, Loveland, CO
Beads - to Infinity and Beyond, Boulder, CO
2000
Ornament Extravaganza, Kittlrell/Riffkind Gallery, Dallas, Texas
Millennium Bead Project, Bead Museum, Glendale, AZ

Organizations
Kansas City Artists Coalition
Metal Clay Masters Registry *
PMC Guild
Art Clay Society
International Society of Glass Beadmakers
Glass Art Society
The Art Alliance for Contemporary Glass
Society of North American Goldsmiths
Best of Missouri Hands *

* Juried membership








Susan Breen Silvy, is an award winning artist in both metal clay and lampwork bead jewelry. She is listed in the International Metal Clay Master’s Registry and is past president of the International Society of Glass Beadmakers. Her work has been exhibited as close as the 2011 River Market Regional Exhibition to as far away as the Silver Accessories Exhibition in Tokyo, Japan. In 2012 she was a finalist and second place winner in the metal clay category of the prestigious Saul Bell Design Award Competition. In years past she won first place awards for her torchwork in Lapidary Journal’s Bead Arts Award, Bead & Button’s Bead Dreams Award and Embellishment’s Gleaming Treasures competition. In July of 2011 she was Art Jewelry Magazine’s profiled artist in, “A Conversation with Susan Breen Silvy”. Her work has been featured in numerous books including Art Jewelry Today , Color on Metal Clay, 500 Beads, The Complete Book of Glass Beadmaking, Formed of Fire; Selections in Contemporary Lampworded Glass and others. She has written tutorials for publications such as Art Jewelry Magazine on techniques for coloring metal and riveting silver tubing through lampwork beads. Her work has been published in Ornament Magazine and the May 2013 issue of Art Jewelry magazine.
A life-long resident of Kansas City area, she and her family currently live just outside of the quaint river town, Parkville, Missouri. She is a graduate of Central Missouri State University with a communications degree in public relations and graphics. The Office Studio is her teaching studio where she both teaches and holds workshops taught by internationally recognized master artists.
  • Kansas City, Missouri, United States